Don’t Tell the GOP: Teabaggers are Bluedoggers
This Bloomberg poll report is making the liberal rounds, but it is irresistible:
At the same time, 70 percent of those who sympathize with the Tea Party, which organized protests this week against President Barack Obama’s health-care overhaul, want a federal government that fosters job creation.
They also look to the government to rein in Wall Street, with almost half saying the government should do something about executive bonuses. Supporters are also conflicted over whether private-enterprise elements should be introduced into government programs like Social Security and Medicare.
They sound like conservative Democrats to me. Granted, it’s a hodge-podge of talking points grabbed from the airwaves, where the think tank flack with the dumbest-downed argument wins, regardless of merits. Fostering job creation is a no-brainer in a None Dare Call It Depression — that it receives so little discussion in corporate news media or on Capitol Hill may be what has prompted some (not all) to view the year-long push for health care/insurance reform with confusion, frustration and anger. Assurances that health care reform will create jobs have been lost on this crowd, certainly amid the fear-mongering, racism and disinformation that has dominated media discourse on this (non-)debate. Blue doggers share in this hodge podge, albeit for more politically cynical reasons: they tend to be well financed by the health insurance lobby. However, job creation is an easy sell, at least in districts that feel the economic pain.
Right, so: Jobs, jobs, jobs — these are what the people want, regardless of their teabagger affiliation. Signing over billions of dollars to Wall Street bailouts also disgusts people, again regardless of teabagger affiliation (ROTBA.) If you wanna cool the populist heat, promote job creation in both the public and private sectors, then pass meaningful financial reform with a strong consumer protection bureau. Show the people (ROTBA) that the government is fighting for them and their interests; and, lo, a segment of the confused populace will view more kindly social necessities like universal health care — not counting, of course, the racist militia morons who exist ROTBA, anyway.
